Vesna Thaw

Nuclear winter has come and gone. The vestiges of Russian civilization survive in underground bunkers, built a decade ago in preparation for the possibility of atomic war. You are a pilot, one of the few brave (or foolish) enough to take to the surface encased in the safety of your robot, a machine scrapped together from the remnants of the industrial Soviet state.

What will you be able to rebuild?

Vesna Thaw is a light-hearted table-top story game of post-Soviet post-Apocalyptic robot action. 2-5 players take on the roles of Pilots, and use their creativity, cunning and giant scrapheap Robots to try and rebuild out of the ashes of nuclear desolation.

The game is GM-less and semi-competitive, with a strong scene structure. Each player takes on the role of a Pilot, drawing (literally) their unique Robot that they have scrapped out of old parts. Through a series of Color, Action and Conflict scenes, each Pilot does their best to surmount the odds (and Hazards thrown at them by other players). The game is designed for the characters to generally succeed over time, and the end comes (after 1-2 sessions of play) when a Pilot finally goes out in a Blaze of Glory.

The original rules of the game are available to read here. It has been revised and updated for publication.

Game Features

2-5 players

1-2 sessions to play

Requires d4s, d6s, d8s d10s, and pencils

Download includes 3 color maps of the post-Apocalyptic USSR by Tony Dowler, as well as a Rogue's Gallery of 14 scrapheap Robot illustrations, commissioned by backers of the projects Kickstarter campaign and illustrated by artist Amma Aning Odum.

Purchase unlocks access to the ndp microgames library, containing PDFs of all ndp microgames. Access information is included in your thank-you email.

ndp microgame issue #2

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